


Somebody to Love

by Arcwin



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Angels and Demons in love, Canon Compliant, Crowley is Bad at Feelings (Good Omens), Crowley is whipped, Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Love Confessions, M/M, POV Crowley (Good Omens), Pining, Queen (Band) References, Takes bits and pieces from the show and fills in the gaps, The Arrangement (Good Omens), Warm and Fuzzy Feelings, Whip him good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 13:04:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20115553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arcwin/pseuds/Arcwin
Summary: Crowley has been in love with Aziraphale from the beginning, dropping hints every chance he gets to let the angel know how he feels. Of course, Aziraphale is either dense or uninterested, and Crowley just accepts his life as it is. Then, Aziraphale invites him out to dinner at the Ritz, and things...change. Ooh, yes, they change and Crowley is more than a little pleased about it.





	Somebody to Love

Since the beginning, that’s how long it’s been. And when I say _ beginning_, I mean the _ lit-er-al _ beginning. Like the beginning of all things, the beginning of time. The moments right after God Herself created the Earth and all the little creatures and stuff on it. We’re talking day eight, maybe day nine. 

That’s how long it’s been since I’ve fallen in love with the little shit named Aziraphale. 

If he was more like the rest of the angels, there’d be no way I would have been interested in him. But the moment I slithered up to him and noticed he’d given away his flaming sword to those silly humans I’d tempted with knowledge, I knew he wasn’t an ordinary angel. In fact, he seemed an awful lot like me, to be honest. Willful disobedience of _ up there_, following his own code instead of the rules set for him by all his superiors who _ claim _ to be following the “ineffable plan.”

Ineffable my arse. Nobody really knows what they’re doing, do they? Everyone’s just bumbling along, but they don’t even have humanity to blame. It’d be hilarious if it wasn’t so terrifying to think of the consequences. S’why I choose to feign ignorance and laugh about it all.

Things have been all right, though. Aziraphale and I only saw each other every few centuries in the beginning, coincidentally bumping into each other as we followed our orders. (Well...I may have nudged downstairs every so often to place me in the same area as the angel without telling them why. Deception comes naturally to me. I am a demon, after all.)

Then came The Arrangement. I’d been working on the idea for a while, running the conversation over and over in my head. I tried bringing it up to him in Rome after he tempted me to try the oysters, but the spark in his eye and the quirk of his lips as he watched me stopped my breath in my throat. He wouldn’t like the idea at first, I knew. Still under the illusion that he had to remain loyal to _ his _side. So we dined together instead, drinking our fill of wine until we were both red cheeked and giggly. The crickets were loud outside the entryway of the restaurant, entreating us to retire. We both ignored them.

Aziraphale slumped over the table, his eyes dewy as he smiled dreamily across at me. “Oyssss….oyssstersss. Din’t think snakes ate oysssssterrrrrsssss…” His arm slid down, hand plopping open on the tabletop near me as if inviting me to hold it. 

Somehow resisting the temptation despite the immense amount of alcohol diluting my blood, I smirked, letting my head loll to rest on my shoulder. “Well…,” I began, voice oily. “How could I refuse the temptation of such a…” Alarms sounded in the far, distant corners of my brain as I struggled to come up with a word to describe him. Everything that suggested itself was much too forward, so I shook my head and blurted out, “Such an angel.” I tapped the palm of his outstretched hand with a single fingertip, punctuating the words. I found his eyes with mine, letting my glasses slide down the bridge of my nose as we stared at one another. 

His cheeks darkened beyond the pink of inebriation, the flush spreading all the way to the tips of his ears beneath those tufts of platinum blonde hair. Pursing and unpursing his lips as he always does when he’s unsure, he kept my gaze just long enough to send the prickles of heat up the back of my scalp before he looked away suddenly, feigning distraction. 

“_Well_,” he breathed out. Hadn’t noticed he’d been holding his breath. (Hadn’t noticed I’d done the same.) “Would you...would you _ look _ at how _ late _ s’gotten? My _ word_, Crowley.” He said the word with the barest hint of gravel in the back of his throat. “You’ve kept me out past my bedtime.” 

(I’d keep you out all night if you’d let me.)

I blinked, then slid my glasses back up to shield my (disappointed) eyes from him. The wall came back up between us. I imagined tiny versions of Aziraphale tutting about, stacking stone upon stone until it was well and truly built with no hope of getting around it. He shuddered in front of me, relinquishing the effects of the alcohol from his system until his cheeks no longer glowed and his eyes were clearer, brighter. Not the half-lidded, sleepy and sensual Aziraphale who extended his palm to me and blushed when I touched him. He was an angel again, and I was a demon, and that was, for lack of a better word, _ that. _

* * *

Time passed. A _ lot _ of time, to be honest. I tried to keep the burning inside me mere embers, knowing that the tiniest of kindling would set my entire soul ablaze for Aziraphale. No longer did I nudge Downstairs to put me in the same locations as the angel, though I somehow ended up there anyway. Even when I tried my damndest to stay away, it seemed like we were drawn together like God’s cruelest of jokes. Knowing her, it probably was.

As we crossed paths in 537 AD, standing in a damp forest in Wessex wearing entirely too much armor, I took a stab at suggesting The Arrangement to Aziraphale. In hindsight, it was in its infancy as an idea and I hadn’t bothered to say any of it out loud before then. As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized how silly it sounded. Both of us stay home? And do _ what_, exactly? Aziraphale was right to get annoyed with me about it, though I’d never admit it to him. He huffed and stomped away, his armor clanking together comically as he disappeared in the mist, and I sighed. Buggered it up, _ again_.

Worry clenched my intestines thinking about how affronted he was at my idea, though. What if he really started avoiding me? It seemed, up to this point, that he had merely been at the whims of Heaven’s orders, following them (and his appetite, apparently) wherever they sent him. Would his loyalty to Heaven really interrupt his contact with me? He seemed, at the very least, friendly. At times, even _ interested _ in getting to know me better. What if he took my suggestion as a demonic temptation to stop him from doing Heaven’s work, and he turned against _ me _ entirely? I wasn’t trying to tempt him, not _ really_. Just saw an opportunity to shake things up a bit.

I didn’t chase after him and apologize, though I wanted to. Immortal beings don’t do well with being begged for forgiveness. (Found that out the hard way.) Instead, I gave him space to cool off. 

It was _ wretched_.

As it stands, being apart from him is just as painful as being near him and not _ having _ him. But, at least when I’m around him we can talk about things that the humans don’t understand. Don’t have to hide so much, don’t have to worry about something slipping out in conversation. It’s... _ comfortable. _ (Sort of. The sunglasses help.)

* * *

It didn’t take long for the two of us to see each other again. We were still in Wessex, and some battle was happening near Hinton Hill that we were both actively trying to avoid. Aziraphale saw me across a town square and made a beeline, dodging townspeople and carts until he arrived at my side. He smiled, a warm and genuine thing, and I forced myself to look away.

Inhaling deeply, he sighed, “Crowley,” with relief. “I see you’ve ditched the Black Knight facade?”

“Noticed you’ve dropped the armor as well. Bloody awkward for doing _ literally _ anything,” I commented, eyeing him. 

He nodded enthusiastically, his hands coming together to clasp in front of his chest. “Dreadful stuff, simply dreadful.” Glancing around at the village, he leaned closer and lowered his voice. “Have you got any idea what’s going on? Is this,” he waved a hand around at the townspeople scurrying about with their heads down. “Your lot?”

Sneering, I shook my head. “No, the humans came up with this all on their own. Why, are you still here trying to _ foment peace_?” 

“No, not anymore. That ended shortly after…,” he trailed off and looked down at his hands, which he stopped wringing and dropped to his sides. “Well, after I saw you last.” The tone in his voice was uncomfortable, like he was debating about whether to tell me that I joke I just told wasn’t very funny. With a frown, he opened and closed his mouth a few times, clearly considering something. 

The clouds parted then, sending a few stray streams of sunlight down onto us. It illuminated his hair, and for a moment I nearly saw his heavenly halo. All the more surprising given what came out of his mouth next. 

“Crowley, I owe you an apology. I was...merely taken aback before, I should not have spoken to you so harshly. In fact, I have considered your proposal and would like to make a counteroffer, if the...uh…” He fidgeted with the bottom hem of his tunic. “If the first...offer...still stands.”

Cocking my head, I let a sly smile crawl across my lips. “_Angel_, are you…” Looking him over, I willed my racing heart into submission as I chose my next words very, _ very _ carefully. “Suggesting that we…” 

He tittered in front me, a blush highlighting his cheekbones. “I’m merely saying that we could...form a _ partnership_, of sorts.” 

“And what would this...partnership entail?”

Aziraphale smiled, a careful but excited thing, and his eyes sparked, as they do when he’s delighted with himself. “I do hope you’ll let me tell you about it over lunch?” 

“S’hardly anything decent ‘round here, hm?” I reminded him, thinking of the bowl of grey slop I declined for breakfast. I looked around us, hoping a new restaurant might suddenly appear in the square. When it didn’t, I turned back to him with eyebrows raised. “Well?”

“I know _ just _ the place,” he said with a sly grin, placing his hand on the small of my back and leading me off down an alleyway. 

As it turns out, he _ did _ somehow know _ just the place _ that had something other than terrible, disease-laden porridge to serve. I shouldn't have been surprised. Aziraphale follows his stomach more than his own head. While we enjoyed a fulfilling lunch of roasted boar, fresh baked bread, and cooked apples, he explained his idea to me. Instead of doing nothing, we would take turns handling _ all _ the work needing done in whatever area we were sent to. He would perform my temptations _ and _ his miracles, and then I would do the same on the next assignment. Efficiency, he claimed. Only one of us making the trip, and if anyone from head office tried to check our work, it would be complete.

“And then, neither of us would have to lie,” he explained, wiping the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief. “When asked whether the work is done, we merely agree and move on.” His pleased smile was radiant, brightening his eyes and making me feel like melting into my chair. The idea of performing blessings made me a bit nauseous, but I couldn’t say no, not to_ him. _Always a soft spot for my soft angel, I suppose.

The Arrangement worked well enough. It meant less traveling and more time to pursue hobbies like cultivating plants or collecting rare books. In some ways, it increased our contact through secret meetings in St. James Park to discuss orders from Head Office. And, ‘course we had to enjoy a meal together as part of the routine. S’pose they were sorta like dates, if you think about it.

I tried not to. Didn’t want to get my hopes up.

* * *

Earlier this afternoon, Aziraphale called me. “Crowley,” he said, voice wavering with uncertainty.

“_Aziraphale_.” Not my fault his name comes out of my mouth sounding _ like _ ** _that_**. Six thousand years of pining and lust does that to a demon.

He paused, obviously shifting from one foot to the other in discomfort, before inhaling sharply. “Do you, by chance, have any...and it’s all right, perfectly all right if you do, but…”

“Out with it, angel!” I snapped, impatient.

“Plans this evening?” Aziraphale finally finished, the words strung together as if they were one.

My thoughts drifted to the vague idea I’d had about drinking whiskey, misting my plants, and looking through my astronomy book. “Well...nothing I can’t set aside for my favorite angel,” I replied smoothly, leaning back in my chair. I wondered whether he had a new assignment from Head Office, and was curious about when I’d receive mine. These things tend to come in pairs.

“I’m the only angel you--_ oh_. Oh, splendid! _ Oh_, I am looking forward to it!” he exclaimed, his voice full of gratitude and joy.

“I’ll pick you up ‘round 7?” I offered, pleased at the mental image of him squirming in the seat of the Bentley as I sped through London. 

“Perfect. Yes, that sounds...delightful,” he breathed into the phone. “See you then,” he added before the phone clicked and the line went dead.

Glancing at the television, I snapped my fingers to turn it on. Surely a new set of orders would be coming soon. 

* * *

Nothing came through before I had to leave to pick up Aziraphale, so I waved my hand to shut everything off and left. Roaring up in front of his bookshop, I checked my hair in the rearview mirror. It’d been a while since we’d seen each other, and I had a new style--much shorter than anything I’d had before. 

“Good evening, dear,” the angel greeted me as he opened the door. “Oh, I see you have a new haircut! It looks…,” he trailed off as I looked over the top of my glasses at him. He was dressed in a stunning cream suit, much nicer than anything I’d ever seen him in, with a light blue silk bowtie that seemed to match his eyes. I swallowed harshly as we stared at each other, feeling the buzz of something between us swirling at the base of my spine. It was Rome all over again, only this time neither of us were drunk yet. It was going to be a _ long _ night.

The moment passed quickly as he cleared his throat and looked down at the car seat before settling himself down on it. “It suits you,” he finally added. The door slammed shut behind him as the Bentley sped off, already taking us toward The Ritz. 

“Thought so,” I commented, making a point to stare out the windshield and _ not _ at the incredibly handsome angel beside me. There was a charged silence in the air between us, something awkward and different from our usual comfortable pauses. Figured I’d ignore it, along with the growing heat in my belly. Nothing to be done about either of them but wait it out.

Neither of us could help lurching forward in our seats as the car slammed to a stop in front of the restaurant. I patted the dash lovingly, thanking it for keeping our ride as short as possible, and the door beside me opened. 

Aziraphale stood to the side, smiling fiendishly at me. “Here you are, my dear,” he said softly, holding a hand out to help me up. 

Despite being alive for a very, _ very _ long time, it still caught me off-guard. This was new for the angel, and I had no idea what possessed him to suddenly act so chivalrous towards me. I must have been gaping, because he nodded and reached for my hand on the steering wheel, drawing me out of the car. I unfolded in front of him as he shut the door behind me, trapping me between him and the car. 

“There,” he breathed, still holding my hand gently in his own. “Ready?” I gulped and nodded, the air increasingly charged between us. He stepped back, finally, and squeezed my hand once before he let go. “After you.”

There was no way in Heaven or Hell I was going to survive this night if he kept doing stuff like this. I sauntered past him, glad to be out of his immediate vicinity so I could think once again. Perhaps all these years of flirting had finally rubbed off on him and he was returning the favor? 

Doubt it. Aziraphale regularly manages to be extraordinarily clever while simultaneously being incredibly dim-witted. He approaches everything with irritating naivete and gives everyone way too much credit, even me. 

_ Especially _ me. He probably thought that was just my way of being “nice.”

We entered the restaurant and were seated immediately at our usual table, the host scurrying this way and that the moment he saw us enter. Aziraphale gave me a knowing wink and led the way, pulling out my chair for me with a flourish.

“Wot’re you on about, then?” I demanded, staring at him. 

A flush darkened his cheeks as he smiled nervously. “Just being a gentleman, dear. You don't mind?” It was more than a question, weighted with something heavy I was too uncertain to name.

I shook my head and took my seat, eyeing him carefully. The waiter appeared immediately and poured out two hefty glasses of red wine, then bowed and disappeared without a word. 

Picking up his glass, Aziraphale sighed happily. “Happy Anniversary, dear,” he murmured before taking a hearty sip.

I sputtered and coughed on my wine, setting the glass down immediately so I wouldn't spill. “Anni--” More coughing. “Anniver--” Again with the coughs. “--sary?” I finally got out, pounding my chest. “Sorry? Anniversary of what exactly?”

The angel set his own glass down and clasped his hands in his lap. He fidgeted anxiously in his seat, then took a breath and nearly killed me with his smile. “The moment I realized that I had fallen in love with you. It was exactly 60 years ago today.” He reached for my free hand, which was clenched in a fist on my thigh, and cupped his own around it. 

There have been many times throughout our lives that Aziraphale has surprised me enough to render me speechless, but none of them even come close to the shock that shut my entire brain off in this moment. I blinked, then blinked again, and blinked a third time, hoping that the motion might reset my system and get things going again. It didn’t work, of course, so I blinked a fourth time and then stared down at our hands on my leg in a dissociative trance. 

“I hope,” he said quietly, his fingers curling around mine. “That I haven’t said something out of turn.” When I didn’t answer immediately, he started to withdraw his hand. That was finally enough to get my head rebooted. I had to stop him, had to show him how much this was all I ever wanted, before he believed his inaccurate assumption that the feeling was _ not _ mutual. 

It most _ certainly, tremendously, enormously, overwhelmingly _ ** _was mutual._ **

Slapping my other one down on top of it to hold it in place, I hissed, “No.” Clearing my throat, I moved my head in something that fell between a nod and shake. “Not out of turn at all. Nowhere near out of turn, in fact. The ball’s _ been _ in your court for quite a while, waiting for you to take your turn, to be honest.” Breaking my gaze away from the hands on my thigh, I dragged my eyes up to meet his, though I had a feeling it’d be my undoing. _ What the Hell, right? _

Aziraphale’s eyes were shining. “Has it?” he asked, blinking away the tears.

I reached up to cup his cheek, my hand trembling against his skin. “Of course it has, you twit.” His lips quivered into a smile, the blush darkening. As his words repeated in my mind, something clicked into place. “Wait--_ sixty _ years?!”

“Since I realized it, yes. To be honest, I think I fell in love with you centuries ago. I don’t know how, but it seems my feelings slowly transformed into what they are now throughout our years together. Funny, isn’t it?” He chuckled to himself, shaking his head. 

“Funny, angel?” I couldn’t believe I hadn’t seen it. How did we miss each other for so long? “I’ve been pining after you since the beginning! You can’t tell me you didn’t know?”

“Well, I--well, no, not exactly, I mean...well, I knew you were flirting with me, but I didn’t think…I just assumed…” he stammered between sips of wine.

“What, that I flirted with everyone like that?” 

He shrugged. “You are a demon, dear. Part of the job?”

Scoffing, I responded, “Part of the--you’ve got to be kidding me. Temptation isn’t always about _ sex_, you know!” The table next to us quieted at that, casting furtive glances our direction. I glared at them over the top of my glasses, startling the snooty man looking at us so he turned away immediately, nudging his date to keep eating.

“I _ don’t _ know, actually. I’m an angel, if you recall. Regardless...I will admit, I was a bit naive.”

“Blind’s more like it…,” I muttered under my breath. 

He pursed his lips, frowning at me, and continued, louder. “I was a bit _ naive_, but I am glad that my affections aren’t unwelcome. Now, shall we eat?” He waved his hand, summoning the waiter over with a full tray of food. There were enough plates to cover the table, a veritable feast of gourmet delicacies for us to enjoy. It was amazing, even for The Ritz, and by the end we were both stuffed and tipsy. 

“Drop you somewhere?” I offered as we got into the Bentley, the leather creaking beneath us. 

Aziraphale tilted his head and grinned, relaxed with a full belly of food and wine. “Come to the bookshop with me, Crowley.”

Patting the steering wheel, I nodded and murmured, “Hear that? Bookshop, it is.” Our hands found each other in the space between us on the seats, fingers lacing together as if they’d done it every day for the last six thousand years. My angel scooted closer to me on the bench and rested his head on my shoulder, slumping down as he leaned against me. “No sleeping,” I mumbled at his hair. “I don’t think I can carry you.”

“Mmm,” was the response. 

The radio clicked on, softly playing Queen’s _ Somebody to Love_. I sang quietly under my breath, releasing his hand and wrapping my arm around him, hugging him close while he dozed. He melted into my side, further cementing his place as the center of my universe. It wasn't Heaven, because if it was it'd be sterile and awkward. And it wasn't Hell; much too cozy and pure for that. No, it was most decidedly Earthly, full of the comforts and familiarity that come with routine and safety. Of knowing what to expect and getting what you asked for. Aziraphale made me feel _ human _ with his love, something I never knew I wanted until now.

My heart nearly broke from the joy of it. 

_ “I get down on my knees _

_ And I start to pray _

_ Til the tears run down from my eyes, Lord! _

_ Somebody, somebody, somebody, somebody _

_ Can anybody find me somebody to love?”_

The Bentley rolled to a gentle stop in front of the bookshop in Soho, jarring Aziraphale awake. He groaned and sat up while I hurriedly wiped the tears from my cheeks. 

“Are you all right?” he asked softly, fingers coming up to touch my damp skin. 

Sniffing, I nodded. “Fine, just fine,” I lied. I have a reputation to keep.

His eyes roamed over my face, seeing much more than I wanted to let on, and he reached up to remove my sunglasses. The streetlights streaming in through the windshield were too bright, so I winced and turned away. Gentle hands turned my face back towards his, where I was met with a knowing smile. 

“My dear,” he whispered before leaning in to settle a kiss on the corner of my mouth. “You don’t have to hide from me. _ Ever_.” 

Before he could pull away, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and bought him close enough that our noses were touching. His long, blonde eyelashes brushed against my face, tickling my cheeks as we stared at each other. Then, without another thought, I closed the gap and kissed him with six thousand years of _ humanity _ behind it. It wasn’t sinful, nor was it chaste. It was passionate and tender and exactly what it should have been. 

When we finally parted, both breathless and pink-cheeked, Aziraphale smiled. “I do believe you’re tempting me, foul fiend.” He pecked me on the cheek, a hand snaking up the back of my head to ruffle my hair. “I know I already mentioned it, but I do like this. It makes you look quite tempting indeed. Now, if you’ll allow it, let me tempt _ you _ inside with the promise of good wine and...whatever else you might desire.”

Shaking a shiver out of my spine, I grinned. “Ooh, Angel, now _ that _ ...that is _ wicked_, even for me.”


End file.
